Both Congress and NCP are pointing fingers at each other after the results of biennial polls.
The results of the biennial elections to the state Leglislative Council has turned out to be a massive setback for NCP as it could win only one out of the four seats held by it earlier. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Ashok Chavan has blamed the NCP for allowing BJP-Sena alliance win additional seat in biennial election.
Expressing his displeasure over the results of the election, Chavan said, “The NCP was averse to the proposal of fighting six seats together in a 3:3 ratio. If the party had adopted this seat sharing formula with us then the results would have been different. Instead the party had helped Sena-BJP by stitching an unholy alliance with them which had cost the Congress dearly.”
“If NCP had agreed to the 3:3 formula leaving Yavatmal and Sangli-Satara for Congress, both parties would have easily won all the six seats. The party should review its strategy and should refrain from supporting Sena-BJP combine in future elections,” added Chavan.
The voting was held on Saturday and the counting of votes took place on Tuesday. The NCP retained only Pune local bodies seat while Congress retained Nanded and wrested Sangli-Satara local bodies constituency from NCP. The BJP retained the Jalgaon local bodies seat. The Sharad Pawar-led party lost Bhandara-Gondia to BJP and Yavatmal to Shiv Sena
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “The NCP had helped Shiv Sena in Yavatmal and BJP in Jalgaon by withdrawing its candidates. Similarly, Shiv Sena supported NCP in Pune. Even in Nanded, NCP joined Sena-BJP to support an independent against Congress’ Amar Rajurkar.”
On the other hand, NCP held the Congress responsible for the party’s poor performance in biennial election. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, “Our party had to suffer defeat due to horse trading activities and non-cooperation from the Congress. Had the party supported us in Sangli-Satara in exchange for our support in Yavatmal, we both could have retained our seats.”
However, NCP continues to be the single largest party in the House. The biennial polls to five seats from teachers and graduates constituencies are also scheduled for which dates will be announced soon, an election official said.
In the 78-member Upper House, Congress now has 20 members, the NCP tally has been reduced to 23, while BJP has 18, and Shiv Sena has nine members.
